GDHQNBA15_f-Starmakers 3

Boston Celtics Gameday HQ

MIKE CONLEY
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
POINT GUARD
While speaking with Conley in the preseason about the
advancement of adjusted plus-minus statistics that now recognize
his greatness as one of the game’s five best point guards, a
question was posed:
What gives you more pleasure this decade? That the Memphis
Grizzlies are considered a top five team, based on playoff wins the
past four postseasons, or that you are considered a top five point
guard, based on
plus-minus ratings?
Conley replied,
“Honestly, I think
seeing the success
of the whole
organization and
knowing I was a
big part of that is
more important than
anything because I
don’t think people
understand how
hard it is to turn a
franchise around. For
us, being in such a
small market, for us
to have gone from
winning 20-24 games
in a season to being
a team that can win
50 games and be
a No. 6, 7, 8 seed
is hard to do. I’m
blessed to have been
in a position to be
a part of this group
that’s turned it around
and made Memphis relevant.”
That’s shine, baby!
This is what Conley is all about, both on offense (+4.29 offensive
Real Plus-Minus) and defense (+0.43 defensive Real Plus-Minus)—
making teammates better—making him perhaps the NBA’s best guard
never to make an All-Star team.
Granted, the West is loaded with players worthy of star status
(Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, among
others), so it’s not so much a snub that the 27-year-old Grizzly has
not appeared in an All-Star Game as the aforementioned four have.
But there is no doubt Conley has focused his spotlight on others
to succeed—see Zach Randolph in 2010 and 2013; Marc Gasol in
2012—while the 6-1, 175 pounder does the little things that allow the
team to prosper as a whole (supreme 30.1 to 11.5 assist-to-turnover
percentage, which shows teammates’ field goals assisted percentage
compared to turnovers per 100 possessions).
Seventeen-point and six-assist averages in 34 minutes per game
may not overwhelm the general public.
But ask Paul, Parker, Curry or Westbrook who they’d least like to
face in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, and Conley’s name is
surely one of the first to come up.
KYLE KORVER
ATLANTA HAWKS
SHOOTING GUARD
Stats LLC, the company behind the SportsVU 10-player cameras
in every NBA arena, created “gravity score” to measure how often
players guard a particular player away from the ball, and “distraction
score” to measure how often a player’s defender leaves him to help
on-ball defense.
Korver had the highest distraction score in the entire NBA,
meaning nobody
ever leaves him.
Kyle Korver also
had the fourthhighest
gravity score
in the NBA, meaning
only Kevin Durant,
Carmelo Anthony and
Paul George bring
more defenders to
them than the Hawks’
33-year-old shooting
guard who averaged
a modest 12 points
in 34 minutes per
game last season.
It is hard to
fathom why the
6-7, 212-pound
sharpshooter
commands that type
of respect from
NBA defenses, but it
makes sense when
you realize he makes
a league-leading 47.2 percent of his threes, while also posting a
league-leading 65.3 true shooting percentage on all of his shots.
There just is not a more efficient shooter in the NBA today, which
explains why he has an All-Star-caliber +3.28 Real Plus-Minus score.
Will NBA coaches ever vote him in an All-Star Game with KD,
Melo and PG-13?
Never.
But will they make him the focal point of their defensive game plan
82 nights a year?
You bet they will.
KAWHI LEONARD
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
SMALL FORWARD
After winning the 2014 NBA Finals MVP, some would say Kawhi
Leonard has already made the jump to stardom, going head-to-head
with Kevin Durant, LeBron James and their championship-contending
teams and coming out ahead.
But don’t be so fast.
It’s no sure thing Leonard will get the coaches’ vote to play in the
2015 NBA All-Star Game.
Think about it: Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant will likely get the
fans’ vote to start the game at both forward spots.
The coaches then are likely to select three more forwards for the
Layne Murdoch Jr.; Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images